This would have been up sooner, but I decided to re-read Atonement instead of writing. I cried. A lot. Time to watch the movie and cry some more! Seriously, James McAvoy dying of blood poisoning makes me cry like a baby. I love tragic love stories. I love stories that end sadly. Something must be wrong with me, because happy endings are boring, and I just love it when something ends in death or destruction. I'm some sort of literary masochist, I think.

The car ride to Lee's parents'house was long and awkward. Lee never got along particularly well with her father. HE had always hoped for a son, and ended up with Lee. When she was a child, she was as delicate and frilly as could be. She eventually grew out of that, though she never managed to bond with her father. She loved him, and she knew he felt the same, but there wasn't much for them to talk about.

They chatted about Lee's new life briefly. She withheld a lot of details of what she was really doing. She said she was working in a school, in admissions, in New York. It was a boarding school for special students, and Lee's father took that to mean academically distinguished students. He had no idea what a mutant was, had never even heard of one, and Lee would keep it that way. He was old fashioned. He didn't even think Lee needed to go to university, and that breaking off an engagement with a businessman was the worst mistake of her young adult life.

He didn't even ask about her personal life, if she was making new American friends or if she had any romantic interests. Lee was grateful for that, because she didn't exactly want to tell him everything. She and Charles were always very discreet in the mansion, never indulging in any public displays of affection. They never even talked about it. She decided it would just be easiest not to mention anything to her family.

Lee was greeted by her frantic mother. She was busy cleaning the house and preparing dinner. Lee found out that besides her daughter, Mrs. Bohman was also hosting other members of the family, and a few family friends that were in town for the wedding. Lee holed herself up in her old bedroom to avoid being roped into cleaning or helping cook.

Lee sat on her bed, the room cast in an orange glow from the setting sun peaking through the eyelet lace curtains. The walls were a pale blue, the floor a dark stained hardwood. The desk had belonged to her grandmother when she was little, as had the bed frame one of the bedside tables. The other bedside table came from her dad's childhood home. The dresser was from an antique shop in town, and the vanity had been a birthday present when she turned sixteen. All of the furniture had been painted the same eggshell white to mask the fact that none of them matched. An old quilt that had seen better days was draped over the foot of the bed. It was made by Lee's great grandmother. She hated it. It was ugly and smelled funny, but provided great warmth in the cold winter months.

The walls were covered in framed photos, an old needlepoint, and a world map over her bed. Two watercolor paintings of flower arrangements painted by her grandmother on her mother's side hung by the window. It felt odd to be in her old room. Nothing had changed at all, yet Lee was a far cry from her teenage self. She had changed a lot, she realized.

Lee sat through dinner quietly. Her great Aunt Brigit and Uncle Bjorn pestered her with questions, but mostly piled on the guilt that she didn't visit or write them enough. Lee's grandmother kept piling food onto her plate, saying Lee was far too bony, and no man would ever want to marry a sack of bones. The entire family seemed as if they were fixated on marriage. Cajsa was the last cousin, besides her thirteen year old sister and Lee, to marry. The family was sparing no expense to create a huge, memorable wedding. Lee decided that they had given up on her. She had her change and she blew it. She couldn't help but think that she wouldn't invite half of the people attending Cajsa's wedding to her own, if she ever got engaged again.

Great Aunt Brigit finally got it out of Lee that she was seeing someone. The news seemed to excite the entire family. They grilled her for details. They wanted to know what he looked like, if she had pictures, what his job was, where he was from, what sort of family did he come from, how did she meet him, if they were planning on getting married. That seemed to be what everyone was most concerned with, especially when they heard he was wealthy, and highly educated. Charles sounded like a good, strong man that could provide for Lee and their family, which Lee had better hurry up on, as her grandmother wasn't getting any younger.

The family was laughing in the living room over coffee about how they hoped this man wouldn't want an English wedding. Lee slipped out of the house unnoticed, the last thing she heard being Brigit's high-pitched laugh, and her Uncle Bjorn mocking an English accent.

Lee forgot how boisterous her family could be. And she hadn't even seen all of them yet. They were loud and incredibly vocal about their expectations of the younger generation. Lee pushed all thoughts of how she had disappointed her family as she walked down the street. It was dark, but the streets weren't deserted. There was still a fair bit of traffic. Lee was glad. She wanted to be away from her family, but didn't want to be alone.

She briefly considered finding a payphone and calling Charles, when she spotted a lost looking blonde woman across the street. It was Raven. Lee looked up and down the street for Erik or Emma, but decided that Raven must have been alone, or else she wouldn't have looked so lost.

Lee quickly crossed the street to confront her. She thought it a safe bet that Raven had followed her.

"What are you doing here?" asked Lee, startling Raven. Lee's accent was thick, having spent the day with her family. She noted with mild interest that Raven looked relieved to see her.

"Thank god, I've been looking for you," she said. She was smiling. Lee wasn't sure why, she hadn't been very nice to her. She didn't think she deserved a smile.

"What for?"

"I was hoping we could talk." Raven looked at Lee expectantly. "I'm alone," she added. Lee caved and agreed to talk to her, leading the way to a bench outside of a cobbler's closed store. Lee vaguely remembered bringing her favorite black patent leather pumps to the store when she was eighteen, and the heel had snapped off of one of the shoes. The owner did good work for a fair price, but that was irrelevant. Lee turned her attention back to Raven. Lee had to admit, she was interested in what Raven had to say. She assumed that it had something to do with Charles, though.

I hate this chapter. I'm not very proud of it.